What is a motel? Layout, origin and what to expect

The motel definition: lodging, parking and an outside door

Merriam-Webster defines a motel as an establishment which provides lodging and parking and in which the rooms are usually accessible from an outdoor parking area. Wikipedia describes it as a hotel designed for motorists, with each room usually entered directly from the parking area rather than through a central lobby, and lists the alternative names motor hotel, motor inn and motor lodge.

Wikipedia contrasts motels and hotels on two points. Motels sit along highways, whereas hotels favour urban cores, and motel rooms face outward, whereas hotel doors typically face an interior hallway. Motels almost by definition include a parking lot, while older hotels were not usually built with cars in mind. Wikivoyage's motel guide adds that motels typically have few shared amenities and no room service, and that North American ones are usually one or two floors with the hallway outside the building.

How the word motel began in San Luis Obispo

The word is a blend of motor and hotel. Merriam-Webster gives 1925 as its first known use. Wikipedia says it comes from a lodging complex in San Luis Obispo, California, built in 1925 by the architect Arthur Heineman, who chose a spot roughly midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, a journey that took two days on the roads of the time. He reportedly could not fit Milestone Motor Hotel on the rooftop sign, so he shortened it to Mo-Tel.

A separate article on that complex adds that the idea combined the convenience of a campground with the comforts and respectability of a hotel. Each unit had an indoor bathroom with a shower, and the plan included parking outside each unit. The owners failed to register the name as a trademark, which let competitors use it, and the plan for a chain of motor courts collapsed in the Great Depression. The original lodge closed in 1991.

From auto camps and tourist courts to the motor hotel

Wikipedia traces the motel through a series of steps. First came auto camps, municipal campsites of the 1920s where travellers pitched their own tents. Then came cabin camps and, for travellers who wanted modern comforts, cottage courts and tourist courts with electricity, indoor bathrooms and sometimes a private garage or carport. Combining the cabins under a single roof produced the motor court, or motor hotel.

The post-war boom followed. The article reports about 22,000 motor courts in operation in the United States by 1947, around 50,000 motels by 1950, and motels overtaking hotels in consumer demand a year later. The industry peaked at 61,000 properties in 1964 and had fallen to 16,000 by 2012. Interstate-style freeways bypassed the old main roads, and chain hotels appeared at the new interchanges.

The decline left a mixed legacy. Some motels were rebranded as inns or lodges. Others have been restored. Wikipedia notes that several historic motels are listed on the US National Register of Historic Places, and the National Park Service says more than 250 buildings, bridges, road alignments and other sites along Route 66 are listed.

Layout, rooms and what a typical motel includes

Wikipedia says motels were typically built in an I, L or U-shaped layout that includes guest rooms, an attached manager's office, a small reception and, in some cases, a small diner and a swimming pool. A motel was typically single-storey, which made it easy to unload suitcases from a car. A second storey, if present, faces a balcony reached by stairwells.

Wikivoyage notes that motels are typically rated at the one or two-star level, that lobbies and community areas are absent or very basic, that any pool is outdoors and may be usable only seasonally, that a minority have an on-site restaurant and that there is no room service. Rooms usually have a private toilet, washbasin and shower or bath. In North America the corridor is usually outside the building.

Some motels sell larger rooms with a kitchenette, historically marketed as efficiencies. That is the same logic as an aparthotel, with far less service and fewer shared facilities. See aparthotel versus extended-stay hotel for how those categories are defined.

Motel or hotel: parking, privacy and the trade-offs

The outside door gives a motel its advantages. You can park next to your room, unload quickly and leave early without crossing a lobby. Wikivoyage adds one caution: a motel in a poor neighbourhood may attract crime, because direct access to the room from the car park gives privacy. Choose the location with the same care as any other stay.

The trade-offs are the amenities. With no lobby, no room service and often no breakfast room, a motel is a base for sleeping. Wikipedia notes that, as independents, motels varied widely in quality, and that early guidebooks and automobile-club ratings tried to bring some consistency. Today you rely on reviews.

If you are comparing categories, see what a chain hotel is for the branded economy end of the market, and what a hotel garni is for another compact, limited-service format.

Motels outside North America: efficiencies, rasthaus and love hotels

The word does not travel evenly. Wikivoyage says most motels in Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook Islands would be called efficiencies in North America: they include a kitchenette with utensils, crockery, a microwave, cooking rings, a toaster and a fridge, and so allow self-catering. If you plan a longer trip to somewhere like the Gold Coast, filter for stays with a kitchen and compare them with motel units.

In Germany and Austria, Wikivoyage says, the word covers low-end, one-star-level properties, and in Austria it is an officially recognised category. Its page on motels adds that some budget motels there have very small rooms with toilets and showers shared in the common hallway. In Wikipedia's account of the French use, it refers to budget hotels.

In other regions the word has a different meaning. Wikipedia and Wikivoyage both note that in Latin America motel usually means a place where rooms are rented for short stays, and Wikipedia says the Portuguese word commonly means a love hotel. Wikivoyage says that in South Korea and Taiwan the term is a euphemism for a love hotel, and its hotel guide says such rooms are often rented by the hour. If you book a motel in those countries, read the listing carefully, and prefer a property that describes itself as a hotel or apartment.

Using a motel on a road trip, and when to choose an apartment

A motel suits one-night stops on a driving route, particularly in the United States where the format began, and in places such as Phoenix or Tucson where visitors arrive by car. Stays with parking in Phoenix show the apartment-style alternative.

For a week or more, the case shifts. A motel room has limited space and cooking facilities, while a kitchen, laundry and desk matter once you stay longer. The guide to how aparthotels are rated explains why stars say little about space, and what is a hostel covers the budget end for solo travellers who do not need a car.

• Check where the car is parked and whether it is visible from the room.
• Ask whether the corridor is outside and which floor the room is on if you have luggage.
• Look for the check-in hours, because many small motels have no 24-hour desk.
• Read recent reviews for noise from the road and for cleanliness.